From 2002 The Hookup Sound File
(Made up of questions from fanmail to Jay..)
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Stitch Held: I love your music and I was wondering if you have ever produced any other bands?
Jay: Personally, I haven't. Just because you have a lot of experience in the studio, that doesn't mean you can transition into producing. Producing is a skill.
Seth Glasgow: What is your key to continued success?
Jay: Tofu.
Rafael Alexandre Marangoni: Will Bad Religion release another live CD?
Jay: No.
Peter Mills: Where do you see Bad Religion and Epitaph in 10 years time?
Jay: I can't speak for Epitaph, but I know I won't be doing the same thing.
Maxime Gagnon: You were speaking French at the show in Montreal. Do you guys research the place you play before going on stage?
Jay: [laughs] No.
Nick Bromley: I was just wondering, who primarily wrote the song "Evangeline" and what is the meaning of the song?
Jay: Brett sometimes likes to write songs in the vein of Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives" or "Veronica." "Evangeline" is one of those songs. It's about a fictional character.
Mike Thornton: I was wondering why your set doesn't include any songs from "The Gray Race," "No Substance" or "The New America"?
Jay: Well, we actually do play some of those songs. We played some of them in a set last night.
Ignacio Di Ranni: In seeing the new wave of punk bands like Blink 182 or Sum 41 and the success they've easily acquired, don't you sometimes think it's unfair and that you deserve more than them? After all, you were their major influence and now they are making profit from a music genre you helped maintain and totally redefined in the late 80s and early 90s!
Jay: No. I mean, we're just dorks from the Valley. I consider myself the luckiest guy on the planet. We've just been having a good time for the past twenty-two years. I don't really think about the influence. I just do what I do.
Liam Craven: Who, specifically, are all the people mentioned in "You Don't Belong"?
Jay: [laughs] I don't think you would know any of them. I don't have the album in front of me, but they are all people friends of ours that we knew twenty years ago. The thing is, if any one of them saw it they would know it. They are all people we grew up with.
Eddie Byard: What are you guys doing to bring Bad Religion to a wider audience?
Jay: Nothing. Not a single thing.
Adrian Hutchins: How many more albums do you see the band doing?
Jay: One
Kim Andrew: Are you ever going to make another Along the Way/Big Bang style video documentary?
Jay: That's a definite possibility. We have cameras out with us right now. The thing is, with stuff like that; we can't say anything definite until we sit down and see what has been recorded and talk about it. There are a bunch of cameras capturing all this stuff, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to put it out commercially.
Robert Martinez: Regarding "Kyoto Now," what does Kyoto mean? I was assuming it was about taking action or revolting.
Jay: Do you read the newspapers? It's not about the city of Kyoto. It's about the Kyoto Treaty and the U.S.'s decision to pull out of it and the reaction from the rest of the world.
Luis Santos: What are you listening to now? Do you still listen to punk music, what are your favorite punk bands from the new scene?
Jay: I'm holding a Black Flag CD in my hand right now. And that's what I'm listening to.
Sébastien Ringuette: Are you going to release a B-sides compilation anytime soon?
Jay: No. B-sides are B-sides for a reason. They aren't good enough to make it on an album because they suck.
Jonathan Brazeau: Do you make more money off of your album sales now than when you were on a major label?
Jay: We didn't leave Atlantic because of money. We came back to Epitaph because we know everybody there. We have a relationship and we're happy. We get the standard amount of money a band is worth. It's the job of a band or a good manager to know what their worth is.
Normo Mo: Do you have any intention of updating your Bad Times newsletter?
Jay: [laughs] Talk to Greg Graffin about that.
Adi Smaylovic: What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome as a band in your twenty-two year career?
Jay: Brett leaving in 1994. That was definitely the hardest thing we ever faced.
Tim Hicks: Will there be any singles or EPs released from "The Process of Belief"? I was hoping there might be an easier or less pricey way to get a hold of "Shattered Faith" and maybe some other songs on CD.
Jay: Well, you're not going to be able to get "Shattered Faith" because that is a Japanese B-side. I would like to put things out on 45son vinyl. We talked about making a CD single. A friend of mine owns Split Clothing and he said, "What do you think about putting a mini-CD in the pocket of all of our jeans?" I though that was an interesting idea.
Ben Hansen: When you record, do you usually do it live with lead and vocal overdubs or do you lay the drums down first and individually track over them?
Jay: It's always different. On some things, we do it all together because we know we have to perform it. Sometimes we lay the drums and bass down together and then I'll do the bass over a couple of times because it just doesn't come together well. We try to put it together but it doesn't always work out that way. It's always different.
Stephanie P: How do you guys deal with the stress of long tours (like the Warped tour)?
Jay: A lot of golf with Fat Mike.
Ralph Braca: Do you have a set planned out for Warped?
Jay: With the Warped tour, it's not about what you play. It's about what you wear.
Jason Randolph: What's it like when you get back home after a tour?
Jay: It takes me about six days to stop waking up and wondering when sound check is, what city we're in, etc After that, it's pretty much back to normaltaking the kids to school and picking them up.
Elizabeth Santana: What do you think about all of the changes going on in the music industry?
Jay: The music industry is a business. It's about selling a product whether it's packaging a band together that isn't a band or whatever. But that's been going on forever. It's more of a buyer beware thing. I certainly wouldn't get a tattoo of any of these bands. You don't know where they are going to be tomorrow.
Mike Dutch: Does you're writing style change as your point of view changes with age and experience?
Jay: You get to a point where you stop blaming other people and start blaming yourself. When you're fifteen, it's easy to direct your anger at a particular individual. As you get older, you say to yourself, "It's now about my reaction to what they do. I'm responsible for that."
Tim Hicks: Has the band written (or are you planning on writing) any songs about 9-11 and the "War on Terror" specifically?
Jay: I think that's what we've been writing about for twenty-two years. That's why "Sorrow" came out as a single even though it was written the year before and recorded in July. That's what we do. That's what we talk about. I don't think we will be writing anything specific, but every album has about five or six things that can relate to that.
Michael Murphy (I swear that is not me! ..Seriously): Where's your favorite place to tour? Where do YOU feel you get the most support and encouragement from the fans?
Jay: [after deliberating about where the interviewer is from] Texas.